Low Carb Swiss Steak

Low Carb Swiss Steak

This takes a little preparation but once that's done you can relax while it slow cooks in the oven until the meat is so tender it falls apart, no knife required.

INGREDIENTS

1.5 pounds beef round steak (you can buy this already sliced or buy a roast and slice it yourself)

Kosher Salt (to taste)

Freshly Ground or Coarsley Ground Black Pepper (to taste)

1/2 a cup of Carbalose Low Carb Flour (you can buy this from netrition.com)

Oil for frying

1/2 large Oninon thinly sliced

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced (or 1/2-1 teaspoon minced garlic from a jar)

1 - 2 stalks Celery, thinly sliced

2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1 can diced Tomatoes

2/3 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano

1/2 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

3/4 - 1 cup Beef Broth

INSTRUCTIONS

Thinly slice the onion and the celery stalk(s).

Add a small amount of oil to a dutch oven on top of the stove, over medium heat.

Sautee the onions and celery until soft.

Add the garlic and sautee another 2-3 minutes. Remove the vegetables from the dutch oven and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Slice the roast into fairly thin pieces - approx 1/3 of an inch thick.

Sprinkle the meat slices liberally with the kosher salt and pepper on both sides.

Place the Carbalose Flour in a shallow dish and dredge the meat on both sides.

Place the dredged meat into a ziploc bag and pound with the textured side of a meat mallet on both sides, until it is about 1/4 inch thick.

Dredge in the flour again, and set aside. Repeat until you have all the meat slices prepared this way.

Add a small amout of oil to the same pan you used to cook the onlons and celery. On meduim heat, brown them meat in small batches, setting aside until you've browned all the pieces.

Return the onions, celery and garlic to the dutch oven.

 Add the can of tomatoes, tomato paste, paprika, oregano, Worcestershire sauce and beef broth.

Stir until combined.

Add the meat, be sure and cover with the sauce mixture.

Cover tightly and bake for 2 - 2 1/2 hours or until the meat falls apart easily with a fork.

You may want to check on the progress after about an hour and a half and add a little more beef broth it the sauce is getting too thick too fast.

Serve!

Enjoy!

Note: This recipe makes 4 servings at approximately 9.5 carbs per serving. 

Macadamia Encrusted Baked Fish

This was delicious! We can't wait to have it again.

INGREDIENTS

2 8oz fish filets ~ I used Grouper but you could use any white flaky fish such as snapper, mahi mahi, cod

CRUST INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Macadamia nuts, chopped

1/2 Tablespoon each of  chopped fresh oregano and marjoram (or use 1/2 teaspoon of each dried)

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 small clove garlic, diced

1 Tablespoon Macadamia Nut Oil (plus a little more for oiling the pan)

1 teaspoon lemon juice* see note

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Chop macadamia nuts coarsley.

If you don't have one of these handy dandy chopper thingies, you might want to invest in one. I got mine at the grocery store for $12.99 and I can't tell you how much time it has saved me over the years.

Put all of the crust ingredients into a small bowl and mix well.

Line baking pan with a sheet of parchment and oil lightly.

Place fish filets on the parchement.

Evenly coat the filets with the crust mixture, pressing down with your hands.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish.

The fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork and the topping is lightly browned.

Serve and Enjoy!

Life is good!

Note: the original recipe called for 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1/2 tablespoon of lemon zest, my better half doesn't care for lemon so I omitted the zest and cut down on the lemon juice - if you like lemon, you may want to add it ~ I simply served my portion with lemon wedges on the side)

Easy Blackened Chicken Breasts

Atkins Induction Friendly Recipe.



This recipe produces the juiciest chicken, with flavor all the way through to the bone. The resting time after baking is a very important step. If you skip it, the flavor will not go all the way through the meat. Trust me, it is worth the wait.

INGREDIENTS

Bone in Chicken Breasts

Cajun Spice Blend (CLICK HERE for my recipe)

Oil for cooking

Sprinkle chicken breasts liberally with cajun spice rub, on both sides.

Pat mixture in with your hands.

Preheat oven proof pan with oil, over medium high heat (a cast iron skillet is preferable).

 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place chicken breasts skin side down in the hot pan and sear for several minutes, until the skin starts to look 'blackend.'

Turn and cook the other side the same way, about 3 minutes. 

Place the pan with the chicken in it, skin side up into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and cover tightly with aluminum foil.

Allow the chicken to rest for 15 minutes.

Serve!

Green Beans steamed with bacon go nicely with this spicy chicken.

Enjoy!

Beer Battered Deep Fried Avocado Slices

Not for Atkins Induction Phase.

These make a delicious, crispy, creamy low carb snack.

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces Michelob Ultra or other low carb beer
1 cup Carbalose low carb flour (you can order this low carb flour from http://www.netrition.com/ )
3/4 TBSP Paprika
2 Cloves of Garlic minced or 1 teaspoon minced garlic from a jar.

2 Ripe but firm Haas Avocados

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a wisk blend the first four ingredients in a bowl. Let sit for 2 hours.

Preheat your frying oil to 375-380 degrees (Fry Daddy's automatically heat to 385 in 15 miuntes).

Slice the avocados in half and then slice each half into 4 slices. Peel the wedges.

Dredge in the batter and fry in the hot oil until browned (you may want to dredge the slices in some of the Carbalose before battering - it helps the batter to stick better) - approximately 1.5-3 minutes. Keep a close eye on them while cooking, Carbolose tends to brown quicker than regular flour.

 Remove and place on papertowels to drain.

Serve with salsa for dipping. When you bite into these, the crunchy coating is amazing with the warm creamy advocao.

Note: Serves 4 - at 1/2 an avocado per person. Net carbs approximately 7.47 each serving

Carb count for the batter alone is 23.62 for the entire batch.

Grilled Kabobs

Spring is finally here! For us that means a lot more cooking on the grill. Today's post is not so much a recipe as it is a suggestion. How about Kabobs for dinner tonight? We love Kabobs, they're so versatile. Just gather together some of your favorite low carb veggies and what ever meat and/or seafoods you're in the mood for and skewer them up and you have a complete dinner on a stick!

My better half likes kabobs best with when we use beef, pork and chicken. Yep, all three. And he likes each type of meat to be marinated in a different flavor marinade.

So, I marinated the chicken in italian dressing (generic 1.5 carbs per 2 TBSP), the pork in Kikkoman Teriyaki (2 carbs per TBSP) and the beef in Allegro Original Marinade (1 carb per TBSP).

If you are using wooden skewers, now would be a good time to get them soaking in water, this keeps them from catching on fire while your're cooking.

Next I gathered together some of our favorite veggies. We had yellow and orange bell peppers, zucchini squash, mushrooms, grape tomatoes and  red onions.

Wash the veggies and cut them into sizes that will pair with the size of your meat pieces - usually slightly larger than bite sized.

Skewer the meats or seafood alternating with a veggie or two in between each piece.

Grill until desired doneness.

Enjoy!

Roasted Rutabaga and Turnip Home Fries

For those of you on Atkins, Rutabaga are not on the acceptable vegetable list for induction. I'm not sure why, as they are actually a cross between a cabbage and a turnip and both of those items are on the list. Rutabaga has 12 net carbs per cup and Onions have 14 net carbs. Onions are on the induction list but have higer carb count than the Rutabaga does. At any rate, you can make this recipe using just Turnips if you don't want to eat the Rutabaga. Turnips have 5 net carbs per cup.

First, for those of you who are not familiar with these root vegetables, allow me to introduce you.

This is a Rutabaga. They are normally quite a bit larger than Turnips. The top part is a a light purplish color and the bottom half has a yellowish tint to it.

Rutabaga's also are normally sold with a coating of wax on them, to help keep them fresh.

These are Turnips. They have a more vibrant purple top area and are white on the bottom half.

The Rutabaga has a tough skin that is difficult to peel using a regular vegetable peeler. I suggest using a small paring knife and a little bit of patience.

Turnips on the other hand have a thinner skin and can be easily peeled using a vegetable peeler.

A very sharp heavy knife such as a meat cleaver, will make cutting the Rutabaga a lot easier.

Using that same heavy knife, cut the Rutabaga into bite sized pieces.

Do the same with the Turnips. You can see the difference in the color of the two root vegetables.

Place the pieces in a bowl.

Drizzle Olive over them and stir to lightly coat.

Spread the chunks in a single layer on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil.

Sprinkle with your choice of seasonings. I used coarsley ground black pepper and seasoned salt.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven.

Stir them after the first 15 minutes. Continue to cook until tender and browned. Mine took about 10 more minutes.

Enjoy!

NOTE:  If you are cooking both Rutabaga and Turnips together, I would suggest cutting your Turnip pieces at about 50% bigger than your Rutabaga. Turnips cook faster and will shrink in size as they cook. This due to the amount of water they contain.